January Vocabulary

Learning new vocabulary words is like a magical expansion of my world. Suddenly something exists that I didn’t know about and with that comes a whole new horizon to explore. This month there were four words in particular that caught my attention:

Ptarmigan — this is a member of the grouse family that is able to live in very cold climates. For half of the year the ptarmigan has white feathers, enabling it to hide in the snow.

Zamboni — it’s been a long time since I’ve been ice-skating and so I had no idea what a “zamboni” was until the word crossed my ears three times in the space of three days this month. Turns out a zamboni is a machine for resurfacing ice, specifically for ice skating. It’s also fun to say!

Water Year — a water year is the twelve-month span during which water is measured for a particular geographical area. In North America the water year begins in October and runs through September. This allows for water that may be held in snow or ice during the winter to be properly measured in spring and summer.

Marcescence — this lovely word refers to the practice of some trees persisting in holding on to their leaves longer than would be normal. This happens particularly with beech trees in my area, giving us a little bit of color in our winter woods.